The present invention relates to an improved cleaning device that collects residual toner from the photoconductive surface of an electrophotographic copying machine by using a rotary brush before the collected toner is eventually deposited in a specific part such as a filter via vacuum means.
Conventionally, there are a variety of methods used for such a cleaning device that collect residual toner from the photoconductive surface. Of these, cleaning by a brush is most widely employed, since it effectively and stably achieves the desired cleaning effect, thus meeting the need for faster copying services.
FIG. 1 shows a typical configuration of a conventional copying machine employing the above-mentioned cleaning device using a brush, in which, corona discharger 2, developer brush 3, transfer corona discharger 4, discharged corona discharger 5, cleaner unit 6, and a discharge lamp 7, are respectively provided around the photoconductive surface 1 at proper intervals. A latent image is formed on the photoconductive surface 1 by charged corona discharger 2 and an exposure light 8 is developed by developer brush 3 before being transferred onto a copying paper by the transfer corona discharger 4. After a transfer operation is completed, residual toner is then removed from the photoconductive surface 1 by the corona discharger 5 and cleaner 6 before being sent to filter 9. Such a cleaner 6 includes a cleaning brush 60 and a scraper that scrapes residual toner from the surface of the brush 60. Filter 9 is provided with a filter bag 90 containing an air filter that collects toner from the cleaner for deposit. A vacuum unit 10 absorbs the removed toner from the cleaner 6 into filter 9 and is provided above the filter 9.
As described above, such a conventional cleaning device includes the said cleaner 6 that wipes the residual toner from the photoconductive surface 1, filter 9 collecting the removed toner, and a vacuum unit 10 behind the vacuum passage used for collecting the removed toner. However, since these devices are located behind the vacuum passage, i.e., behind the filter unit, quite a powerful vacuum force is needed to effectively collect the removed toner, and thus, relatively great vacuum capacity should be provided. In addition, due to the increased vacuum capacity, an AC motor should also be provided, thus unavoidably requiring a larger space, while generating unwanted noise and causing relatively large amounts power to be dissipated.